Solomon’s Administration^(A)

4 When King Solomon was the king of all Israel, ² these were his officials:

Azariah, son of Zadok, was the ⌞chief⌟ priest.

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were scribes.

Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the royal historian.

⁴ Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was commander of the army.

Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

⁵ Azariah, son of Nathan, was in charge of the district governors.

Zabud, son of Nathan, was the king’s adviser.

⁶ Ahishar was in charge of the palace.

Adoniram, son of Abda, was in charge of forced labor.

⁷ Solomon appointed 12 district governors in Israel. They were to provide food for the king and his palace. Each one had to supply food for one month every year. ⁸ Their names were

Benhur, who was in charge of the hills of Ephraim,

⁹ Bendeker, who was in charge of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan, and

¹⁰ Benhesed, who was in charge of Arubboth, Socoh, and the entire region of Hepher.

¹¹ Benabinadab had the entire region of Dor.

(Solomon’s daughter Taphath was his wife.)

¹² Baana, son of Ahilud, had Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth Shean.

(This was near Zarethan, below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah and over to Jokmeam.)

¹³ Bengeber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he had the settlements of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, in Gilead.

He ⌞also⌟ had the territory of Argob in Bashan, 60 large cities with walls and bronze bars across their gates.

¹⁴ Ahinadab, son of Iddo, was in charge of Mahanaim.

¹⁵ Ahimaaz was in charge of Naphtali.

(He also married Solomon’s daughter Basemath.)

¹⁶ Baana, son of Hushai, was in charge of Asher and Aloth.

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, was in charge of Issachar.

¹⁸ Shimei, son of Ela, was in charge of Benjamin.

¹⁹ Geber, son of Uri, was in charge of Gilead, the territory of King Sihon the Amorite and King Og of Bashan. (There was only one governor in that territory.) ^[a]

²⁰ The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They ate and drank and lived happily.^[b]

²¹ Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the country of the Philistines and as far as the Egyptian border. These kingdoms paid taxes and were subject to Solomon as long as he lived.

²² Solomon’s food supply for one day was 180 bushels of flour, 360 bushels of coarse flour, ²³ 10 fattened cows, 20 cows from the pasture, and 100 sheep in addition to deer, gazelles, fallow deer, and fattened birds. ²⁴ He controlled all the territory west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza and all of its kings. So he lived in peace with all the neighboring countries. ²⁵ As long as Solomon lived, Judah and Israel (from Dan to Beersheba) lived securely, everyone under his own vine and fig tree.

²⁶ Solomon had stalls for 40,000 chariot horses. He also had 12,000 chariot soldiers.^{[c] 27} Each of the governors provided food for one month every year for King Solomon and all who ate at his table. The governors saw to it that nothing was in short supply. ²⁸ They brought their quota of barley and straw for the chariot horses to the proper places.

Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom—keen insight and a mind as limitless as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the eastern people and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. ³¹ He was wiser than anyone, than Ethan the Ezrahite, or Heman, Calcol, or Darda, Mahol’s sons. His fame spread to all the nations around him.

³² Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. ³³ He described and classified trees—from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He described and classified animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. ³⁴ People came from every nation to hear his wisdom; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard about his wisdom.

Preparations for Building the Temple^(B)

5 ^[d]King Hiram of Tyre sent his officials to Solomon when he heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father. Hiram had always been David’s friend.

² Solomon sent word to Hiram, by saying, ³ “You know that my father David was surrounded by war. He couldn’t build a temple for the name of the Lord our God until the Lord let him defeat his enemies. ⁴ But the Lord my God has surrounded me with peace. I have no rival and no trouble. ⁵ Now I’m thinking of building a temple for the name of the Lord my God as the Lord spoke to my father David: ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne to succeed you, will build a temple for my name.’ ⁶ So order men to cut down cedars from Lebanon for me. My workers will work with your workers. I will pay you whatever wages you ask for your workers. You know we don’t have any skilled lumberjacks like those from Sidon.”

⁷ Hiram was very glad to hear what Solomon had said. Hiram responded, “May the Lord be praised today. He has given David a wise son to rule this great nation.”

⁸ Hiram sent men to Solomon to say, “I’ve received the message you sent me. I will do everything you want in regard to the cedar and cypress logs. ⁹ My workers will bring logs from Lebanon to the sea, and I will have them make them into rafts to go by sea to any place you specify. There I will have them taken apart, and you can use them. You can pay me by providing food for my palace.” ¹⁰ So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and cypress wood he wanted. ¹¹ Solomon gave Hiram 120,000 bushels of wheat and 120,000 gallons of pure olive oil. Solomon paid Hiram this much every year.

¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he had promised. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with one another.

¹³ King Solomon forced 30,000 men from all over Israel to work for him. ¹⁴ He sent a shift of 10,000 men to Lebanon for a month. They would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of forced labor.

¹⁵ Solomon had 70,000 men who carried heavy loads, 70,000 who quarried stone in the mountains, ¹⁶ and 3,300 foremen who were in charge of the workers. ¹⁷ The king commanded them to quarry large, expensive blocks of stone in order to provide a foundation of cut stone for the temple. ¹⁸ Solomon’s workmen, Hiram’s workmen, and men from Gebal quarried the stone and prepared the logs and stone to build the temple.